If I could give them zero stars, I would.
I have been profoundly deaf most of my life and have known plenty of audiologists and hearing aid dispensers. I bought a digital hearing aid from this shop a few years ago at about $2,500, entirely out of pocket. Much to my dismay, I lost it a couple years later. So I went online and found the exact same model overseas and bought it for $300. I took it in to have my program installed on it and that's when the trouble began. First off, the guy who I used to see there seemed to be gone. The lady in his place turned really sour when I told her that I bought the hearing aid off the Internet. She informed me that it would cost $700 to have the program from my previous hearing aid installed on this hearing aid. Naturally, I felt this was an exorbitant price. They already had my audiogram. They already had the programming of the hearing aid. They just needed to put the same program on the new hearing aid, which involves connecting a USB dongle and transferring the configuration from their computer to the hearing aid. They wanted $700 to move a file from Point A to Point B. I was not pleased. And the lady had quite the attitude. Like, how dare I buy a hearing aid from the Internet for $300 when they have one to sell me for another $2,500. And she had the nerve to be angry! Well, I said that I was unsure about the cost. She wanted to look at the hearing aid and so I allowed it. She hooked it up to her computer and messed with it a little bit, then sighed and looked at me in resignation and said "it's counterfeit."
You mean this is a counterfeit hearing aid, I asked her. She assured me that the hearing aid was counterfeit and was unable to be programmed. I was aghast. But I was not ready to purchase another. I left.
I later decided to check with another audiologist. Good thing I did that. I found one in San Diego who made a new audiogram, a new ear mold, AND programmed this "counterfeit" hearing aid just fine for only $200. Not only that, the program done by the new audiologist is far superior to the one done by HearUSA. I was blown away by the quality of service I got at the new place, as opposed to the mediocre programming originally done by HearUSA. (Interestingly enough, my original "lost" hearing aid has since turned up. Go figure. On trying it out, I was able to compare the programs. Sure enough, the newer one was done much better. The HearUSA programming job was sub-par.)
I will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER patronize HearUSA and I encourage you to give them a wide berth. HearUSA lied to me in order to try to make another sale. They attempted to rip me off on the programming fee. And their programming work is sub-par. Avoid them. There are plenty of good audiologists and hearing aid dispensers out there -- HearUSA is not among them. read more